Eric Coble
Eric Coble is an American playwright and screenwriter. He is a member of the Playwrights' Unit of the Cleveland Play House.
Eric Coble was born in Edinburgh, Scotland and raised on the Navajo and Ute reservations in New Mexico and Colorado. Before turning to playwriting, he received his BA in English from Fort Lewis College in Durango, Colorado, and his MFA in acting from Ohio University.
Career
Coble's play, The Velocity of Autumn premiered on Broadway on April 1, 2014, officially on April 21, 2014, at the Booth Theatre, starring Estelle Parsons and Stephen Spinella, directed by Molly Smith. The play was nominated for the Pulitzer Prize for Drama. Estelle Parsons received a Tony Award nomination for Best Actress in a Play. The play had its debut at the Boise Contemporary Theatre before moving to Arena Stage, Washington, D.C., in 2013.The Spanish version, La velocidad del otoño, premiered at the Teatro Bellas Artes in Madrid in December 2016. It starred Lola Herrera and Juanjo Artero and was directed by Magüi Mira.
His play Bright Ideas opened Off-Broadway at the Manhattan Class Company, directed by John Rando, and has since been published by Dramatists Play Service, with dozens of productions across the U.S. His stage adaptation of Lois Lowry's The Giver has had over 300 productions on three continents. Other work includes Natural Selection, For Better, The Dead Guy, Virtual Devotion, Cinderella Confidential, and Pecos Bill and the Ghost Stampede.
His plays have been produced in 50 states of the U.S., and on six continents including productions at The Kennedy Center, Manhattan Class Company, Actors Studio, Playwrights Horizons, The Denver Center Theatre Company, Arena Stage, The Edinburgh and New York Fringe Festivals, South Coast Repertory, Laguna Playhouse, Alliance Theatre, Cleveland Play House, Actors Theatre of Louisville, Cleveland Public Thaeatre, Indiana Repertory, Coterie Theatre, Asolo Rep, Curious Theatre, Geva Theatre, Alabama Shakespeare Festival, Dobama Theatre, Stages Repertory, Great Lakes Theater, Coterie Theatre, Boise Contemporary Theatre, Habima Theatre, Pentacion Productions, Teatr Polski, Orange Row and the Contemporary American Theatre Festival.
Awards include an Emmy nomination, the Steinberg New Play Award, two American Alliance for Theatre and Education Distinguished Play Awards for Best Adaptation, the AATE Award for Distinguished Play, the AT&T Onstage Award, National Theatre Conference Playwriting Award, an NEA Playwright in Residence Grant, two TCG Extended Collaboration Grants, Aristophanes Award for Best Off-Broadway Comedy, First Place in the Southwest Festival of New Plays, Heideman Finalist for Actors Theatre Louisville, three Best of the CATCO Shorts Festival Awards, the Cleveland Arts Prize, two Cuyahoga Arts and Culture Creative Workforce Fellowships, and four Ohio Arts Individual Excellence Awards.
Selected works
| YEAR | TITLE | PREMIERE | PUBLICATION | - |
| 1993 | Ordering Lunch | Playwrights Horizons Summerfest, NY | - | |
| 1994 | Isolated Incidents | Cleveland Public Theatre, OH | - | |
| 1994 | Tristan And Isolde | Aegean Theatre Co., NY | - | |
| 1996 | Sound-Biting | Dobama Theatre, OH | - | |
| 1996 | In A Grove: Four Japanese Ghost Stories | Cleveland Play House, OH | - | |
| 1997 | Nightfall With Edgar Allan Poe | Cleveland Play House, OH | - | |
| 1998 | The Emperor's New Clothes | Cleveland Play House, OH | Published by | - |
| 1998 | Virtual Devotion | Dobama Theatre, OH | Published by | - |
| 1998 | Myth-Adventures: Five Greek Classics | Cleveland Play House, OH | published by | - |
| 1998 | Under The Flesh: The Final Descent of Edgar Allan Poe | Cleveland Playhouse, OH | - | |
| 1999 | truth: The Testimonial Of Sojourner Truth | Dobama Theatre, OH | - | |
| 1999 | The Servant Of Two Masters | Cleveland Playhouse, OH | - | |
| 1999 | Gold In The Bones: Three Tales Of Haunted New England | Cleveland Play House, OH | - | |
| 1999 | Pinocchio 3.5 | Cleveland Play House, OH | - | |
| 2000 | The Way You Look Tonight | Great Lakes Theater Festival, OH | - | |
| 2000 | Lake Of Panthers | Cleveland Play House, OH | - | |
| 2000 | Tales Of The Southern Frontier | Eckard Theatre Company, FL | - | |
| 2001 | Bright Ideas | Cleveland Play House, OH | published by | - |
| 2001 | Strange Intelligence | Imagination Stage, Washington DC | - | |
| 2001 | Pecos Bill And The Ghost Stampede | Cleveland Play House, OH | published by | - |
| 2001 | Straight On 'Til Morning | Great Lakes Theater Festival, OH | - | |
| 2002 | Baggage Unattended | Contemporary American Theatre Company, OH | - | |
| 2002 | From Here: A Century Of Voices From Ohio | Wallpaper Project Ohio state-wide tour | - | |
| 2002 | T.I.D.Y. | Beck Center For The Arts, OH | - | |
| 2003 | Sacagawea | Oregon Children's Theatre, OR | - | |
| 2003 | Cinderella Confidential | Cleveland Play House, OH | published by | - |
| 2004 | Remote | Contemporary American Theatre Company, OH | - | |
| 2004 | The Machine Stops | Hiram College, OH | - | |
| 2004 | Vote? | Eckard Theatre Company, FL | published by | - |
| 2005 | Uncle Sam's Satiric Spectacular | Humana Festival, Actors Theatre of Louisville, KY | - | |
| 2005 | Ten Minutes From Cleveland | Dobama Theatre, OH | - | |
| 2005 | The Dead Guy | Curious Theatre, CO | - | |
| 2005 | The Giver | Oregon Children's Theatre, OR | published by | - |
| 2006 | Natural Selection | Humana Festival, Actors Theatre of Louisville, KY | published by | - |
| 2006 | Waiting For The Matinee | Cleveland Play House, OH | published by | - |
| 2006 | For Better | National New Play Network rolling world-premier: Curious Theatre, CO; New Theatre, FL; Southern Rep Theatre, LA | - | |
| 2006 | Luis | Verb Ballets, OH | - | |
| 2006 | Haunted | Contemporary American Theatre Company, OH | - | |
| 2006 | Let Freedom Ring | Ensemble Theatre, OH | - | |
| 2007 | Zap! | Florida Repertory Theatre, FL | - | |
| 2007 | Terror In The Tower | published by Akron Public Schools | - | |
| 2008 | The Cleveland Plays, Part 1: Migration | Dobama Theatre, OH | - | |
| 2008 | Ask Gilby | Akron Public Schools syndication | - | |
| 2009 | Southern Rapture | Actors Theatre of Charlotte, NC | - | |
| 2009 | Unbeatable | Phoenix Theatre, AZ | - | |
| 2009 | H.R. | Dobama Theatre, OH | published by | - |
| 2009 | Ten More Minutes From Cleveland | Dobama Theatre, OH | - | |
| 2009 | Huck Finn | Cleveland Play House, OH | - | |
| 2010 | Panto Pinocchio | Stages Repertory Theatre, TX | - | |
| 2010 | The White Coat, The Body, and others | Cleveland Clinic, OH | - | |
| 2011 | A Girl's Guide To Coffee | Actors' Summit, OH | - | |
| 2011 | My Barking Dog | Cleveland Public Theatre, OH | published by | - |
| 2011 | The Velocity Of Autumn | Boise Contemporary Theater, ID | published by | - |
| 2011 | Side Effects May Include... | Oregon Children's Theatre, OR | published by | - |
| 2012 | Stranded On Earth | Boise Contemporary Theater, ID | - | |
| 2012 | Gathering Blue | Cleveland Play House, OH | - | |
| 2013 | Men Are From Mars, Women Are From Venus | U.S. Tour | - | |
| 2013 | The Reason Why | Geva Theatre, NY | - | |
| 2014 | Sherlock Holmes: The Baker Street Irregulars | First Stage, WI | published by | - |
| 2014 | Fairfield | Cleveland Play House, OH | ||
| 2015 | Jedi Training: Challenge Of The Temple | Disney Theme Parks | - | |
| 2015 | Flour and Brimstone | Cleveland Public Theatre, OH | - | |
| 2015 | CPH RAW | Cleveland Play House, OH | - | |
| 2015 | Just Do It | The Every 28 Hours Plays, Ferguson, MO | published in "A Race Anthology: Dispatches and Artifacts From A Segregated City | - |
| 2016 | Margin of Error | Boise Contemporary Theater, ID | - | |
| 2016 | These Mortal Hosts | Cleveland Play House, OH | - | |
| 2016 | 'Twas The Night Before Christmas | Cleveland Public Theatre, OH | - | |
| 2017 | Swagger | Palm Beach Dramaworks, FL | published by | - |
| 2017 | The Talk | Cleveland Public Theatre/Station Hope, OH | - | |
| 2017 | Ghosts In The Machine | First Stage, WI | published by | - |
| 2017 | The Family Claxon | Cleveland Public Theatre, OH | - | |
| 2018 | The Girl Who Swallowed A Cactus | Rolling world premiere: Childsplay Theatre, AZ; Metro Theatre Company, MO | published by | - |
| 2018 | Refugee | Florida Repertory Theatre, FL | - | |
| 2019 | Feed | Cleveland Play House, OH | - | |
| 2019 | Live To Tell | Palm Beach Dramaworks, FL | - | |
| 2019 | Tovic Tomte And The Trolls | Talespinner Children's Theatre, OH | - | |
| 2020 | Wait For It | Covid One-Minute Play Festival, NY | - | |
| 2021 | Bulletproof Backpack | Florida Repertory Theatre, FL | published by Dramatic Publishing | - |
| 2021 | That Which Can Be Held | Cleveland Museum Of Art, OH | - | |
| 2021 | Big Changes | Published by | - | |
| 2022 | The Hatbox | Williamston Theatre, MI | - |